creative deconstruction

Billy Corgan Announces New Smashing Pumpkins Album – 44 Free Songs

Posted on 17. Sep, 2009 by refe in ARTISTS, NEWS

New artwork included with the announcement.

Billy Corgan announced Wednesday that recording has begun on a new 44 track album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, which he will release as a series of free downloads.

In a statement made on the Pumpkins’ website Corgan said that he hopes ”to release a song at a time beginning around Halloween of this year, with each new release coming shortly after until all 44 are out.” The band is currently in the studio recording the first four of these new songs. According to Corgan all 44 songs will be made available for free. ”There will be no strings attached. Free will mean free, which means you won’t have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish.”

He goes on to say that limited edition EPs will be made available for sale at some point, likely containing 4 songs apiece. “The EP’s will be more like collectors items for the discerning fan who will want the art itself, along with the highest possible audio quality available.” Although the details have yet to be worked out, he expects the physical releases to be “more like mini-box sets rather than your normal cd single.”

The final step will be to compile the 44 songs together into a deluxe box set after all of them have been completed and released. According to Corgan the EPs and the box set will not overlap in content. ”Those who have bought the EP’s need not worry, as the box set will not be a recompilation of the limited edition pieces.”

This is a huge undertaking. Corgan is no stranger to big releases - remember the double disc Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness? Still, 44 songs, 11 EPs and a massive deluxe box set makes that album look tiny in comparison. Prince is the only one I can think of to tackle a project of this scope. Corgan addresses that concern as well, saying, “I already have 53 songs written for the record, so I am quite confident that I already have much of the material that I would need to undertake such an extensive project. I am very committed to seeing this album through to its completion and very, very excited about the prospect of delivering new Smashing Pumpkins music to you in a unique and exciting way.”

Corgan also hints at what fans can expect in terms of content: “The music of ‘Teargarden by Kaleidyscope‘ harkens back to the original psychedelic roots of The Smashing Pumpkins: atmospheric, melodic, heavy, and pretty.”

The album will also apparently feature a consistent story line throughout, “breaking down the journey of our life here into four phases as made by these different characters; the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic, and the Mystic.” Sounds pretty Smashing Pumpkins to me.

Some fans have reported that Corgan has already debuted some of this new material live while touring as Spirits in the Sky this past August.

I was skeptical when I first heard that the Billy Corgan was reforming the Smashing Pumpkins without any of the original band members. It’s always a dangerous thing to risk the legacy of a band as influential as the Pumpkins were in their heyday. Jumping back into the game with a huge project like this is also a pretty gutsy move. On the one hand, Billy Corgan and the new band will need to make quite a splash to prevent potential media backlash. Teargarden could be exactly the kind of buzz-builder they need. Still, tying up so many resources – not only financials but time and creative energy as well – could prove disastrous if it falls flat once it begins to roll out to listeners.

I do appreciate that Corgan is trying something new. His plan seems to reveal that he’s been paying attention to the changing market, at the very least. This should be an interesting story to watch as it develops over the coming months.

Tags: albums, Billy Corgan, new music, Smashing Pumpkins